Thread waxing device



y 1945' cxA. NEWHALL 2,379,985

- THREAD WAXING DEVICE Filed Dec. 22, 1943 Patented July 10, 1945 THREAD WAXING DEVICE Carl A. 'Newhall, Peabody, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington. N. J.. a corporation of New Jersey Application DecembcrZZ, 1943, Serial No. 515,225

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to thread treating devices, hereinafter termed waxing devices, commonly employed with wax thread sewing machines and hereinafter illustrated as being embodied as an improvement over the thread waxing device disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,996,137, granted April 2, 1935, on an application filed in the name of Fred Ashworth.

The waxing device of the patent referred to is constructed and arranged more particularly for use with thread lubricating fluid in which wax or other substances which solidify or set are held in suspension or dissolved within a volatile solvent. In the patented device, a supply of lubricating fluid is provided within a waxpot or container removably clamped in place against a sealing cover on a supporting bracket to prevent excessive evaporation of the solvent composing the fluid. From beneath the cover for the container projects a metal tube at the lower end of which is mounted a guide for directing thread through the waxing device to insure immersion of the thread within the lubricating fluid regardless of whether the container is completely filled or nearly empty. From the thread guide, the thread passes back to the cover and through a stripper for removing excessive amounts of wax before the thread enters the sewing machine.

The cover of the patented thread waxing device has an annular seat and downwardly extending flanges within which is received a resilient annular gasket for locating the mouth of the is: to provide a thread lubricating or waxing device for the purpose indicatedin whicha clean,

fresh supply of lubricating fluid or cold war: may be substituted for an exhausted or deteriorated supply and introduced with a new shipping container whenever necessary, regardless of whether the container is composed of metal, glass or other needed within a large range of sizes and styles ofcontainers without modification or loss of emciencyin operation. A still further object is to improve the construction and render the usemore efficient of a thread waxing device arranged in a manner generally similar to that of the type disclosed in the above-identified patent.

With these objects in view, the illustrated em- ..bodiment of the present invention resides in a' thread waxing devicaparticularly for sewing machines, comprising a container for the wax, a frame having a cover for the container and downwardly projecting. arms on the cover, in which a yoke is hin'gedly connected to the arms and provided with a platform to clamp the container against the cover when the yoke is swung beneath the. container and to act as a gage for 10- eating the mouth of the container on the cover in container to form an air-tight seal with the gasket. Heretofore, lubricating fluid has been usually supplied commercially for such thread waxing devices in hermetically sealed in metal cans of uniform external diameter which, after being opened, are applied directly to a waxing device and clamped against the resilient gasket while in use. According to present-day practice, metal cans of the nature required are difllcult to obtain for the purpose of shipping and storing lubricating fluid and, accordingly, glass jars having screw-top covers are substituted. The mouths of these jars usually are of smailerdiameter than their main bodies and consequently do not flt the size of the gasket at the seat in the cover. v us, difficulty is encountered in replenishing th supply of lubricating.v fluid in the waxing device, particularly where, due to sedimentation of the lubricating fluid and deterioration of both'the fluid and the old metal container, it is necessary to provide a clean,.fresh supply of fluid and a new container at the same time. The principal object of the present invention another position-of theyoke before clamping. When thus arranged, there-is no necessity for forming the cover witha special seat or locating flange, the mouth of the container being located in clamping position centrally of the thread guide and stripper wholly by theplatform and yoke. The cover may be formed, with a lower. unobstructed flat surface and, if desired, a corresponding gasket may be employed so that a container having a mouth of any suitable diameter may be clamped against the gasket to prevent excessive evaporation of the volatile constituents in the lubricating fluid. In the illustrated form of this feature, the platform is provided with gage arms against which the side of. the container is pressed to locate the mouth of the container on the cover after introducing a fresh supply of the fluid.

These and other features of the invention together-with the, advantages claims taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawing showing one embodiment of the invention in its preferred form. 1

attained be apparent from the following description and In the drawing, Fig. l is'a perspective view of a thread waxing device of the invention with a glass lubricating fiuid container clamped in operating position;

and

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation and reduced I scale, showing the yoke and platform of the --means of a frame bracket 2 integrally formed with a horizontally projecting flange or cover 4 on which are supported thread guides 6, 8, an adjustable spring-pressed tension plate lo, a downwardly extending tube I2 at the lower end of which is secured a porcelain thread guide l4, and an excess lubricating fluid stripper IS on which the thread guide 8 is mounted, the thread guide 8 being in the form of a threaded cap engaging the stripper to compress a rubber element within the stripper against the thread. The porcelain thread guide l4 consists of an eye through whichthe thread passes and is located close to the bottom of a container l8 clamped against the lower surface of the cover 4 so that the thread will be immersed in the wax even when the supply in the container is nearly exhausted.

. The wax' pot or container of the Ashworth patent is described as composed of glass of a shape similarto a common drinking tumbler with its rim adapted to fit against a ring asket positioned in an annular seat formed at the edg of a circular concavity beneath the cover. 8

downwardly extending flange being providedsurrounding the gasket seat to locate the mouth of been made.- Glass shipping containers ordinarily are provided with a screw type sealing cover,

and the threads for receiving the cover on the container have necessitated .a contraction in diameter of the mouth of the containerso that the main body of the container is of greater diameter than that of the mouth. Consequently,

the mouth of a screw type glass container will not at the gasket in the cover of the waxing device now in use. I: the cover for the waxing de- .vice were finished with a smooth unflanged under surface to receive such a glass container,

then there would be no means, in the commer- .cial waxing devices now inuse, to locate and maintain'the container accurately in position. Also, the inconvenience of trying to locate a completely filled container quickly and accurately,

with the tube l2 and thread guide l4 in a central position within it, may cause the fluid to be spilled vor .the container to be upset orbroken.

duced diameter screw type mouth may be applied directly to the waxing device without danger of spilling the lubricating fluid or otherwise upsetting or breaking the container when comthrough spaced lugs on the cover a pair'of downwardly projecting arms 20 of a length shorter than the height of the container, and at the lower ends of the arms there is hingedly connected at 22 a U-shaped yoke 24, the length of each of whose arms is at least as great or greater than theradius of the container. The yoke is arranged to swing on its hinges from a vertical position, as in Fig. 1, to the horizontal position of Fig. 2, so that the container may be introduced from beneath and moved upwardly into surrounding relation to the tube l2 and thread guide l4 in the usual way. In order to guide the container during its upward movement without special effort or attention durin its introduction within the 'yoke, there is mounted a platform 26 which, when the yoke is in the horizontal position at one side, as shown in Fig. 2, acts as a gage against which the side of the container may be pressed during its upward movement. The arms 20 and the yoke 24 are so shaped and spaced that they will guide opposite sides of the container l8 during its upward movement, and the platform will locate the container definitely at a position in which the tube l2 and thread guide l4 may enter the mouth'of the container in a central relation without obstruction when the container is pressed laterally against the platform also assist in guarding the container against misplacement both while the container is being clamped and against accidental dislocation during use of the device. For these purposes, the upturned portions of the arms are spaced to fit the largest'sized container used.

To clamp the cover and to support the mouth of the container against the compressible annular gasket 21 on the lower surface of the' cover, the platform has connected to it -a plunger 28 passing loosely through an opening in the central bar of theyoke 24. Coiled aboutthe bar between'the platform and the yoke is a compression spring 30 acting at its ends on the yokeand platform. When the yoke swung from the. horizontal position of Fig. 2 into the vertical positionoi Fig. l, the coil spring 30 is compressed by grasping a handle 32 at the lower end of the plunger sufiiciently to clear the bottom of the container. Upon release of the handle 32, the plunger will move the platformagainst the bot tom of the container and clamp it with its mouth supported against the cover 4. With this construction, the under surface of the cover 4 may be finished conveniently as a smooth flat plane, and an annular compressible gasket 21 may be employed to seal a container having a mouth ofany suitable diameter within apractical range of sizes.

To hold the platform in a position which will insure proper location of the container while the yoke is in horizontal gaging position, the handle 32 forms a shoulder 34 beneath the yoke which limits the expansion of the spring 30. By this means, the plane of the upturned ends forming the gaging surfaces on the lateral arms of the platform is held at a distance from the yoke hinges 22 equal to half the distance between the hinges themselves, thus defining a space within which the sides of a cylindrical container'having a diameter equal'to the distance between the hinges may be located accurately with the tube and thread guide centered in the mouth of the container.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: i V

1. A thread waxing device for sewing machines, comprising a container for liquid wax, a frame, a cover on the frame for the container against the lower surface of which the mouth of the container is supported, downwardly projecting arms of a length less than the height of the container secured to the cover, a U-shaped yoke of a length at least as great as the diameter of the container hingedly connected at its ends to the lower ends of the arms, and a platform mounted within the yoke to locate the mouth of the container on the cover while the yoke is swung on its hinges to one side and to engage and clamp the mouth of the container against the cover 'when the yoke is swung beneath the container.

2. A thread waxing device for sewing machines,

comprising a container for liquid wax, a frame,

a cover onthe frame for the container against the lower surface of which the mouth of the container is supported, downwardly projecting arms of a length less than the height of the container secured to the cover, a U-shaped yoke of a length at least as great as the radius of the container hingedly connected at its ends to the lower ends of the arms, a platform mounted within the yoke to clampthe mouth .of the container against the cover when the yoke is swungbeneath the container, and gage arms on the platform against which the side of the container is pressed before being clamped to locate the mouth of the container on the cover when the yoke is swung to one, side,

'3. A thread waxing device for sewing machines,

comprising a container for liquid wax, a frame,

a cover on the frame for the container against the lower surface of which the mouth of the container is supported, downwardly projecting arms of a length less than the height of the container secured to the cover, a ,U-shaped yoke of a length at least as great as the radius of the container hingedly connected at its ends to the lower ends of the arms, a platform mounted within the yoke, gage arms on the platform against container.

which the side of the container is pressed before being clamped tov locate the. mouth of the container on the cover when the yoke is swung to one side, and a spring-pressed plunger connected to the platform for causing the platform nected to the frame, a platform slidingly mounted on the yoke, a. rplunger connected to the platform and passing through the yoke, a spring surround-- ing the plunger between the yoke and the platform to clamp the container against thecover ,when-the yoke is swung beneath the container,

and a shoulder on the plunger for holding the platform in a position to locate the mouth of the container on the cover when the yoke is swung to one side. v

, CARL A; NEWI-IALL. 

